Rural Urban Migration In Kenya
Date
1997-04
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Tangaza University College
Abstract
The process of rural-urban migration now under way in Kenya
involves a rapid shift of people towards the larger towns, especially
Nairobi and Mombasa. The movement is massive and involves all kinds
of people-young, old, male, female, the educated and the illiterate, the
landless, and those with large holdings. Moreover, in the last couple of
years, the degree of migration has increased very rapidly with the level
of educational attainment, and Nairobi attracts a very large share of
those with secondary or higher education.
Robert Mc Namara former President of World Bank said: "The
cities are filling up and urban unemployment steadily grows... The
'marginal men', the wretched strugglers for survival on the fringes of
farm and city, may already number more than half a billion, by 1990
two billion. Can we imagine any human order surviving with so gross a
mass of misery piling up at its baser.'
And again, Edgar 0. Edwards, reports on Employment in
Developing Countries said: "We are firmly persuaded that the most
fundamental and promising attract on employment problems in
development countries is in efforts to redress the present urban bias in
development strategies".2
The issue of migration is not only a challenge to Kenya, but it is a
real problem to all African countries as well. Kenya, one of the African
nations, gives me an opportunity to research and reflect into the issue,
and to analyse its repercussion on this important social phenomenon.
The dictionary of Social Science, defines migration as the spatial
mobility or geographic mobility of individuals or groups of people,
which has distinguishing characteristics such as: a change of usual place of residence across a defined administrative boundary or an origin and a
destination, with an interval or duration of residence.3
The concept of migration excludes moves made by persons
without a fixed place of residence i.e. nomads, or short-term trips which
involve no change of residence, such as seasonal moves, journey to work
or to school. Therefore, those who have moved from their place of origin
or previous residence to other places are known as migrants, and those
who remain at the original residence being non-migrants or stayers, are
not considered migrants.
However, one may wonder why I chose this topic of rural-urban
migration. Since I am a Missionary Brother in the Catholic Church and
undertaking Social Ministry course, it is my duty and responsibility to
understand and to reflect upon this social phenomenon which is
affecting so many people in the country where 1 am called to work and
serve as Social Minister. The other important thing to note is that the
question of migration is a problem which affects our present generation; therefore, if it is not addressed now, we missionaries are not inserting
ourselves into the realty of people we are living with. Such a mistake
could be a disastrous social affair for next generation. On the other
hand, if it is addressed today, there is hope that this problem can be
lessened in the coming future and our participation as missionaries will
be recognised by the people. These are the main reasons why I decided
to delve into this issue of rural-urban migration in Kenya.
In addressing this issue of migration in Kenya, I am I am going to use
the see, judge, and act methodology. Hence, to help myself applying this
methodology: I have used some sources of information which fall, at any
time in one or the other of the above categories. The first part of this
paper shows the present situation and its phenomenon with the
following sections: 1) the characteristics of the migrants 2) motivations and causes for migrations 3) the impact of migration 4) general
considerations regarding the impact of labour migration. From this
general overview of the situation in Kenya, the paper focuses on the
reasons causing the issue in presenting the aspects of 1) migration and
urban unemployment 2) structural influence on rural-urban migration
3) urban informal sector and migrants. The third part of the paper is
tries to identify some concrete aspects in order to promote integral rural
development with the following sections: 1) reduce imbalances in ruralurban
employment opportunities 2) elimination factor price distortion
3) integral rural development. Finally, I conclude with my own personal
reflection and summary.
I am aware that this research paper does not address every aspect
of the issue of migration in Kenya. However, this can be a starting point
for myself and those who wish to do more research on this challenging
issue.
Description
Keywords
The Phenomenon of Massive Rural Urban Migration, Urban Unemployment, Migration and Rural Development, Urban Informal Sector and Migrants, Motivations and Causes for Migrations, The Characteristics of the Migrants, Elimination Factor Price Distortion